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booksandprosecco's review against another edition
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, and Rape
Moderate: Cancer, Grief, Mental illness, and Miscarriage
Minor: Abortion and Infidelity
hilaryreadsbooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
5.0
Moniz opens this stunning collection of short stories with two girls carrying the weight of the world. Kiera and Ava share a common heaviness, an emptiness, as they come into womanhood—a sense of knowing that they can and should be taking more space in this world. Kiera, Ava, and all of Moniz's other characters felt real, alive, pulsing—Moniz gives these characters the space and words they deserve. I felt the deep shame Fred felt in "The Loss of Heaven" as he finally began to come to terms with his failings; I felt the resentment Margot openly displayed for her mother's perceived weakness in "The Hearts of our Enemies"; I felt the descent into depression as Rayna tries to cope with her miscarriage in "Feast."
Moniz's writing is vibrant and poetic, precise with detail and imagery. Her characters are complex, imperfect, and so, so human. In just a couple of pages, each of her stories pulled me in, made me really...feel as I grappled with feelings of unease: many of these characters' insecurities were ones I related to.
Full review: https://www.instagram.com/p/CP0kVORLUcL/
Moniz's writing is vibrant and poetic, precise with detail and imagery. Her characters are complex, imperfect, and so, so human. In just a couple of pages, each of her stories pulled me in, made me really...feel as I grappled with feelings of unease: many of these characters' insecurities were ones I related to.
Full review: https://www.instagram.com/p/CP0kVORLUcL/
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide
Moderate: Cancer, Miscarriage, and Sexual assault
keatynbergsten's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I loved every story in this collection and they all really felt like they belonged in the same collection. One of the best short story collections I’ve read in a long time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Cancer, Racism, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness
readgramrepeat's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
3.75
I listened to Milk Blood Heat on audio and wow...Don’t let the vibrant cover fool you, there is a darkness to this book. (Check content warnings before you even read the first story.)
I’m still trying to process my thoughts on all the stories, but none were a miss for me. Milk, blood, and heat are a theme in the collection with stories about children, motherhood, blood pacts, death, and love in Florida.
It’s funny that Lauren Groff, author of Florida, has a blurb on the cover because I was thinking I liked this collection more than her collection about The Sunshine State.
I’m still trying to process my thoughts on all the stories, but none were a miss for me. Milk, blood, and heat are a theme in the collection with stories about children, motherhood, blood pacts, death, and love in Florida.
It’s funny that Lauren Groff, author of Florida, has a blurb on the cover because I was thinking I liked this collection more than her collection about The Sunshine State.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Cancer, Death, and Miscarriage
drawmeabookreview's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Cancer and Death
deedireads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.
TL;DR REVIEW:
Milk Blood Heat is an absolutely fantastic short story collection, sharp and riveting. You should definitely read (or listen to) it.
For you if: You enjoy short stories, or you’re thinking of trying short stories and want to start with something excellent.
FULL REVIEW:
First, thank you to Grove Atlantic and HighBridge Audio for granting me advanced digital and audio copies of this book on NetGalley. I’m a big fan of switching back and forth between print and audio, and also listening along while I read the words. This short story collection is freakin excellent, and the audio production and voice acting was also so, so good.
Milk Blood Heat is everything the title promises it to be: sharp, searing, visceral, and human. It’s hard for me not to compare this to Danielle Evans’s The Office of Historical Corrections, because I read them very close to one another. While of course they’re not the same, I do think that if you liked one, you’ll like the other — both collections are just incredibly written and deal with some overlapping themes.
I think my favorite stories were “Milk Blood Heat” (obviously), about two preteen girls who develop a friendship out of a mutual feeling of drowning in the world; “The Loss of Heaven,” about a man who derives his worth from providing while his wife is dying from cancer; “Snow,” about a bartender whose perspective on marriage is tested by a unique patron; and “Necessary Bodies,” about a woman who is newly pregnant but not sure she wants to keep it in a world like ours.
You won’t regret reading this one!
TL;DR REVIEW:
Milk Blood Heat is an absolutely fantastic short story collection, sharp and riveting. You should definitely read (or listen to) it.
For you if: You enjoy short stories, or you’re thinking of trying short stories and want to start with something excellent.
FULL REVIEW:
First, thank you to Grove Atlantic and HighBridge Audio for granting me advanced digital and audio copies of this book on NetGalley. I’m a big fan of switching back and forth between print and audio, and also listening along while I read the words. This short story collection is freakin excellent, and the audio production and voice acting was also so, so good.
Milk Blood Heat is everything the title promises it to be: sharp, searing, visceral, and human. It’s hard for me not to compare this to Danielle Evans’s The Office of Historical Corrections, because I read them very close to one another. While of course they’re not the same, I do think that if you liked one, you’ll like the other — both collections are just incredibly written and deal with some overlapping themes.
I think my favorite stories were “Milk Blood Heat” (obviously), about two preteen girls who develop a friendship out of a mutual feeling of drowning in the world; “The Loss of Heaven,” about a man who derives his worth from providing while his wife is dying from cancer; “Snow,” about a bartender whose perspective on marriage is tested by a unique patron; and “Necessary Bodies,” about a woman who is newly pregnant but not sure she wants to keep it in a world like ours.
You won’t regret reading this one!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Cancer and Sexual assault
franklybookish's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
4.25 / 5 stars
CW: suicidal ideation, rape, sexual abuse, miscarriage, abortion, cannibalism, suicide, grief
"What is the nature of hate? What's it useful for? And Zey imagines the townspeople, their whispers, and cruel laws, their narrowed eyes. How they ostracized the women [The Scarlet Letter], conspired to contain her light.
They were scared of her, Zey tells the teacher, realizing it as she speaks, and he jabs a finger in her direction. Yes! Exactly that, he says. Now he's getting excited, pacing before their desks, and Zey tilts forward in her seat, angling closer to his truth. Hate, he continues is almost always a cover for some perceived psychological threat-- our guilt or pain. Our fear. And how do we treat things of which we are afraid?" from 'Tongues'
Review: I found this debut to be a remarkable, authentic, and poignant collection of moments, interactions, relationships, and individuals grounded in common situations, yet hidden in the dark spaces of what we keep out of public eyes. Written in a lyrical, truly raw, and unencumbered way it's impossible to not feel compelled and emotionally linked to these characters. Moniz, in so few pages, draws the reader in and develops foundational relationships, in many ways better and stronger than many 200+ page novels do. Many of these stories, although ambiguous in nature and lacking traditional resolutions, find great success in the emotional transference to readers of what the characters are going through, how they are attempting to navigate life, and the impact of their relationships.
As with most short story collections, some stories were stronger than others. 'Milk Blood Heat' the first story presented and from which the whole collection is named, is one of the stronger pieces. Additionally, 'Tongues' and 'The Hearts of Our Enemies' stood out to me, though none of the stories stood out as a true "week link", the entire collection is strong. I personally loved the darkness of these stories, to me that darkness mimicked true life and meant there was no shying away from the truth of difficult situations and the impact of mental health.
*Thank you to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for the advanced e-copy in exchange for a fair review*
CW: suicidal ideation, rape, sexual abuse, miscarriage, abortion, cannibalism, suicide, grief
"What is the nature of hate? What's it useful for? And Zey imagines the townspeople, their whispers, and cruel laws, their narrowed eyes. How they ostracized the women [The Scarlet Letter], conspired to contain her light.
They were scared of her, Zey tells the teacher, realizing it as she speaks, and he jabs a finger in her direction. Yes! Exactly that, he says. Now he's getting excited, pacing before their desks, and Zey tilts forward in her seat, angling closer to his truth. Hate, he continues is almost always a cover for some perceived psychological threat-- our guilt or pain. Our fear. And how do we treat things of which we are afraid?" from 'Tongues'
Review: I found this debut to be a remarkable, authentic, and poignant collection of moments, interactions, relationships, and individuals grounded in common situations, yet hidden in the dark spaces of what we keep out of public eyes. Written in a lyrical, truly raw, and unencumbered way it's impossible to not feel compelled and emotionally linked to these characters. Moniz, in so few pages, draws the reader in and develops foundational relationships, in many ways better and stronger than many 200+ page novels do. Many of these stories, although ambiguous in nature and lacking traditional resolutions, find great success in the emotional transference to readers of what the characters are going through, how they are attempting to navigate life, and the impact of their relationships.
As with most short story collections, some stories were stronger than others. 'Milk Blood Heat' the first story presented and from which the whole collection is named, is one of the stronger pieces. Additionally, 'Tongues' and 'The Hearts of Our Enemies' stood out to me, though none of the stories stood out as a true "week link", the entire collection is strong. I personally loved the darkness of these stories, to me that darkness mimicked true life and meant there was no shying away from the truth of difficult situations and the impact of mental health.
*Thank you to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for the advanced e-copy in exchange for a fair review*
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Moderate: Blood and Grief
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Terminal illness
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